# Eat This, Not That! Top Fast Food Swaps



## Ashley (May 21, 2008)

*Eat This, Not That! Top Swaps*

*Simple, smart, fast ways to change your body, one meal at a time*

By Dave Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, Men's Health

Not all burgers are created equal. That's important, especially when you consider that the average guy will eat 100 of them this year.

Take America's two most famous burgers, the Whopper with Cheese and the Big Mac. A fair fight, right? Well, if you go for the Arch alternative, you'll save 220 calories over the BK behemoth. Use that strategy for every burger you eat in 2008 and you'll save 22,000 calories â€” the equivalent of 6 pounds of body fat.

See, the way you pick your favorite fixes â€” from burgers to banana splits â€” could help you make the transition from chubby to chiseled. In researching Eat This, Not That! the best-selling book based on the popular column in _Men's Health_ magazine, we found that the most effective weight-loss strategy doesn't require you to abandon the foods you love but simply to make better choices when selecting them. Do that and you'll trade failed diets and wild weight fluctuations for healthy eating patterns and a lean, new you. Who wouldn't make that swap?

*CHEESEBURGER*

*Eat This:*

McDonald's Big Mac

540 calories

29 grams (g) fat

*Not That:*

Burger King Whopper with Cheese

760 calories

47 g fat

Save 220 calories and 18 grams of fat!

In the battle of the megaburgers, the McDonald's triplex is the surprising victor. BK's burger barons have a heavy hand with the mayo (it contributes 160 calories to a Whopper), and apparently the charbroiling isn't doing you any favors, either. But don't take this as an all-you-can-eat Big Mac pass: If you add a medium order of fries and a Coke, your lunch just grew to 1,130 calories.

*Max Your Mac*

Replace the fries with a side salad with balsamic dressing and save 320 calories.

*PIZZA*

*Eat This:*

2 slices Domino's large cheese pizza with crunchy thin crust

360 calories

19 g fat

*Not That:*

2 slices Pizza Hut large cheese pizza with thin 'n crispy crust

560 calories

24 g fat

Save 200 calories and 5 grams of fat!

In the world of mass-produced pizza, nothing beats Domino's crunchy thin-crust pie. This is how Italians meant for pizza to be eaten â€” with a crackling crisp crust and balanced cheese and sauce. Considering the average guy will consume 46 slices of pizza this year, this one small change can save you nearly 5,000 calories â€” a down payment on a smaller waist size.

*TURKEY SANDWICH*

*Eat This:*

Subway 6-inch Turkey Sub with provolone

330 calories

8.5 g fat

*Not That:*

Panera Sierra Turkey

840 calories

41 g fat

Save 510 calories and 33 grams of fat!

Don't sweat the meat in the sandwich: turkey, roast beef, and ham are all lean cuts. But Panera slathers its turkey with a thick layer of chipotle mayo and slides it into a heavy, oily wedge of focaccia, so this turkey is a porker. A Subway 6-incher not enough to quell your raging lunchtime hunger? Double up on the meat for just 50 calories more.

*Forget the Focaccia*

Panera's smoked turkey on sourdough has only 430 calories.

*FRUIT SMOOTHIE*

*Eat This:*

Juice Power Mega Mango Smoothie

420 calories

97 g sugar

*Not That:*

Dunkin' Donuts Large Tropical Fruit Smoothie

720 calories

142 g sugar

Save 300 calories and 45 grams of sugar!

This sickeningly sweet concoction from Dunkin' has an ingredient list straight out of a chem lab and more sugar than seven HÃ¤agen-Dazs vanilla-and-almond ice-cream bars. So this tropical excursion will be bad for your equator. The Jamba version is 100 percent fruit, so there's a huge caloric discount and big antioxidant payload.

*CAESAR SALAD*

*Eat This:*

Panera Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

560 calories

34 g fat

*Not That:*

Chili's Chicken Caesar Salad

1,010 calories

76 g fat

Save 450 calories and 42 grams of fat!

In the wrong hands, a Caesar salad can be murder. At Chili's, the innocent pile of romaine is swallowed up by a perfect storm of dressing, Parmesan cheese, and croutons, making this unnatural disaster one of the unhealthiest salads in America.

*Craft A Combo*

Round out your meal with a 90-calorie cup of Garden Vegetable soup.

*BANANA SPLIT*

*Eat This:*

Dairy Queen Banana Split

530 calories

14 g fat

*Not That:*

Baskin-Robbins Classic Banana Split

1,030 calories

39 g fat

Save 500 calories and 25 grams of fat!

Ever eat just half of an ice-cream sundae? Neither have we. So stay out of trouble: Ditch the Baskin-Robbins bomb in favor of the scaled-down version from Dairy Queen and spend the 500 calories you saved on another sundae (next week).

*Save Energy*

With more sugar than four Snickers bars, it'll make your energy levels soar then plummet.

*CHICKEN MEAL*

*Eat This:*

Boston Market Chicken (1 thigh and 1 drumstick)

300 calories

17 g fat

*Not That:*

KFC Original Recipe Chicken (1 thigh and 1 drumstick)

460 calories

32 g fat

Save 160 calories and 15 grams of fat!

There's no secret recipe here, just a fryer full of bubbling oil and a breaded, grease-infused two-piece combo. Boston Market slow-roasts its birds on a spit, so they're naturally juicy (but not oil-saturated) with a great balance of fat and protein. Add sides of garlic-dill new potatoes and green-bean casserole for a meal you can savor now and not suffer from later.

*Sub In Steer*

Tired of chicken? 5 ounces of sirloin will run you only 290 calories.

*CINNAMON ROLL*

*Eat This:*

Au Bon Pain Cinnamon Roll

350 calories

21 g sugar

*Not That:*

Cinnabon Classic Cinnabon

813 calories

55 g sugar

Save 463 calories and 34 grams of sugar!

Right. There's absolutely no nutritional value in a cinnamon roll. But when you just have to have one, take comfort in knowing that Au Bon Pain's sweet spiral more than halves the calories and sugar found in the Cinnabon catastrophe.

*BEER*

*Eat This:*

Guinness Draught

126 calories

10 g carbohydrates

*Not That:*

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

175 calories

14 g carbohydrates

Save 49 calories a beer!

Surprised? Most people think of Guinness as a beer milk shake: dark, thick, and rich enough to inspire guilt along with the intense pleasure. But a 12-ounce mug is as low in calories as many watery light beers, and it can save you up to 50 calories over other full-flavored brews, such as Sierra Nevada. Switch out a six-pack a week and you'll save yourself more than 4 pounds this year. Brilliant!

*Sip Smartly*

Stick with this bottle because the Extra Stout version packs an extra 50 calories.

*BURRITO*

*Eat This:*

Taco Bell Regular Style Steak Burrito Supreme

390 calories

14 g fat

*Not That:*

Chipotle Steak Burrito

1,033 calories

40 g fat

Save 643 calories and 26 grams of fat!

Chipotle uses terrific fresh ingredients, but until the chain downsizes its football-size burritos, you have only two safe ways to quell your craving: Share half of your Chipotle burrito or swap in Taco Bell's leaner Burrito Supreme. (If you must, add a taco--you'll still save more than 450 calories.)

*Breakfast Sandwich*

*Eat This:*

McDonald's Egg McMuffin

300 calories

12 g fat

*Not That:*

Starbucks Classic Sausage, Egg &amp; Aged Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich

460 calories

25 g fat

Save 160 calories and 13 grams of fat!

In the nutritional hierarchy of breakfast breads, English muffins beat bagels and croissants every time. As for meats, bacon tops sausage, and ham trounces them both. Replace the sausage with ham and you could save up to 500 calories a week from breakfasts alone. Case in point: Starbucks has a ham version of this sandwich that weighs in at 380 calories.

*Start Strong*

Eighteen grams of protein make this a surprisingly sound beginning to your day.

SOURCE


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## StereoXGirl (May 21, 2008)

Wow, this is a really great list for people that still feel the need for fast food every once in awhile!


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## kdmakeuparts (May 21, 2008)

This is great. When you have a craving you just gotta' give into, at least you can make a slightly healthier choice!


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## KatJ (May 22, 2008)

Awesome post! It's nice to know that when I make bad choices, there is a way to make them not SO bad.


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## ticki (May 22, 2008)

i don't eat most of this stuff so i'm good to go. if i do hit fast food, it's usually some sandwich shop. thanks for the info!


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## makeupwhore54 (May 29, 2008)

That is pretty helpful. Thanks for posting. But I don't think I could give up my KFC to save 169 calories, I'd just skip a side or something lol


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## pinksugar (May 29, 2008)

that was super interesting! thanks for posting! I didn't know some of the brands, but there were quite a lot that are relevant in australia too. I wonder if our burgers and pizzas have the same amounts of fat and such in them as the US?


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## magosienne (May 29, 2008)

i wonder that too.


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## Mac_Junky (Jun 3, 2008)

I don't eat alot of the stuff on the list but I must say....all of the food sounds good. I have heard about those fruit smoothies. They are mostly sugar anyway. I had a slice of my favorite cheesecake and found out one slice was 960 calories


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## Adrienne (Jun 3, 2008)

How interesting! Thanks for posting!


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## yummymum79 (Jun 6, 2008)

Aww, man, you mean Taco Bell is actually healthier for me than Chipotle? It's like I just found out that Santa Claus isn't real.

:-(


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## Ashley (Jun 6, 2008)

Originally Posted by *yummymum79* /img/forum/go_quote.gif Aww, man, you mean Taco Bell is actually healthier for me than Chipotle? It's like I just found out that Santa Claus isn't real.
:-(

Well, Chipotle's burrito is way bigger than taco bell. Just don't eat all of it and you can sitll eat at Chipotle!



And getting a bowl instead of a burrito saves a lot of calories!


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## CellyCell (Jun 12, 2008)

I have that book. Stoled it at work... hehe, shhh.

Very useful stuff! Especially when you crave something - there's always that better option.

Like at Jack and the Box (fav. late night run) get the beef taco instead of fries - only 180 cals. Hella good stuff.

Their hamburger deluxe is what, 280 cals compared to a Jumbo Jack which is 640 cals.


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## Tyari (Jun 15, 2008)

this is incredibly helpful. Thanks for posting!


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## eric (Jun 15, 2008)

I love articles like this.. Thanks Ashley!!!!! Its amazing to see the difference between a whopper and big mac, I would never have expected that!!!


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## Mary_Sunshine (Jun 21, 2008)

Thanks for posting it's nice to know.


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